Cricket Australia Writes to ICC Asking for T20 World Cup 2020 and 2021 Each to Be Postponed by a Year: Report

Cricket Australia has written to the International Cricket Council (ICC) requesting the apex cricket body to postpone the upcoming T20 World Cup by 12 months. According to reports, the letter from Cricket Australia (CA) chairman Earl Eddings first came into light during the ICC meeting on May 28. The ICC 2020 T20 World Cup was scheduled to be held in Australia later this year. But Eddings in his letter to ICC’s Financial and Commercial Affairs Committee had asked for the tournament to be postponed by a year, which will mean Australia will host the T20 World Cup in 2021 (originally to be held in India) while India will get the hosting rights for 2022. ICC Defers Decision on 'All Agenda Items' Until June 10.

According to a report from the Times of India, Eddings in his letter said that Cricket Australia wants to host the T20 World Cup in 2021 – the same year when India was to host the next T20 World Cup – and asked for the upcoming 2020 edition of the tournament to be shifted to 2022. Need to Hold IPL 2020 and Important Role of BCCI in World Cricket Post Covid-19 Pandemic.

"Australia has thankfully managed to 'flatten the (COVID) curve', meaning there is greater certainty of being able to play in Australia in 2021 (which is key to maintaining member distributions). This would give India another year to resolve any COVID-related problems," the letter read. India vs Australia 2020-21 Schedule, Free PDF Download: Get Fixtures and Venue Details of IND vs AUS T20I, Test and ODI Series.

The BCCI has declined any possibilities on exchanging the hosting rights with Australia for T20 World Cup. India are supposed to host the 2021 edition of the tournament, a year after the preceding edition takes place in Australia. "As for one of the ideas that BCCI may hand the hosting rights of the 2021 edition to CA and us hosting the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup, I honestly don't see that happening." news agency IANS quoted a BCCI source as saying. "If the T20 World Cup doesn't happen in Australia in 2020 then it will in 2022 is what we feel."

Meanwhile, the ICC deferred the decision on the 2020 T20 World Cup until June 10, when it is to meet for a second time to decide on the fate of the upcoming edition. The meeting held on Thursday was adjourned within two hours of its start after the letter was leaked. A statement from the apex cricket body read that certain members have called for an independent investigation to uncover the matter behind the leaking of the letter sent to a committee of the board.

"The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board met via teleconference today with all agenda items deferred until 10 June 2020 following a discussion, led by Chairman Shashank Manohar, around the issue of confidentiality," the statement read. "A number of board members had raised their concerns over this issue recently and felt it required immediate attention to ensure the sanctity and confidentiality of board matters in line with the highest standards of governance.

"There was unanimous agreement to immediately initiate an independent investigation led by the ICC's Ethics Officer and supported by global experts. The board will be updated on this by the ICC CEO at its next meeting on 10 June 2020.

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts, however, mentioned that there was a ‘very high risk’ that the upcoming T20I World Cup would not go ahead as originally planned. The ICC T20 World Cup was to be held between October-November in Australia. "The T20 World Cup is a big question and that's a factor of perhaps $20m ... we have been hopeful all along that it could be staged in October-November but you would have to say there's a very high risk about the prospect of that happening," Roberts said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2020 12:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).